A wrestling connection helped longtime Newburgh coach Jeff Cuilty land on his feet.

Cuilty, who stepped down after 24 seasons at Newburgh this summer, was headed to Valley Central as its jayvee coach before he received a call from a former wrestler.

Mike Rydell, Cuilty's first Section 9 champion at Newburgh in 1990 and now principal at Wallkill, wanted to speak. Rydell offered Cuilty Wallkill's head coaching job. Tom Palazzo agreed to step down to be Cuilty's assistant. Cuility's appointment was recently approved by Wallkill's school board.

"The chance to be a head coach for a principal who was one of my former wrestlers was an offer I couldn't refuse," said Cuilty, who is also the section's wrestling chairman. "I thought I could do more good here. Valley Central is in good hands with Jeff (Lewis) and Paul (Cummings)."

Cuilty has gone right to work. Last weekend, he coached three Wallkill wrestlers — Logan Losito, Alec Guevara and Tyler Blasko — at the Hudson Valley Challenge, an offseason local tournament. In one match, Cuilty coached against a Newburgh wrestler.

Cuilty will make his official debut as Wallkill coach on Dec. 1 at the Herricks tournament. He said Wallkill will host its own dual tournament for the first time this season.

"We have a young team," said Cuilty, who has 346 career victories. "It could be one of those teams with only one or two seniors."